Two mining executives shot dead in Zamboanga

Two Filipino executives of a Dubai-based mining firm were shot dead by gunmen while dining at a wayside restaurant here, police said yesterday.It said a teenager was also wounded by a stray bullet and rushed to a hospital.Police spokesman Chief Inspector Ariel Huesca said Felipe Nepomuceno, an engineer and Rommel Dayrit were killed in the village of Vitali late Friday. Nepomuceno was the resident manager of Atro Mining-Vitali Inc, engaged in mining and processing of iron ore. Company officials have not released any statement about the killing and its communications officer Antonio Manaytay could not be contacted on phone.The company is part of Atro Group based in Dubai and engaged primarily in investments, import and export and trading of commodities – wheat, sugar, rice, urea, pulses, lentils, including mineral resources such as clinker, iron ore, coal, coking coal, gypsum, chemicals, pulp, waste paper materials, steel scrap, steel coils among others.Its parent company, Bashundara Group is based in Bangladesh and has interests in Southeast Asia, Asia Pacific and African countries.In Zamboanga City, Atro Mining entered into an Exclusive Mines Operating Agreement with Hard Rock Mineral Trading Inc for its mineral production sharing agreement in Vitali covering an area of over 2,000 hectares.Atro Mining is also planning to engage in mining chromite, nickel, copper, gold, silver, lead, zinc, manganese and other minerals.